The last 2 days he’s been excited to go to school. Yesterday he stood at the front door with his backpack aka lunch box blowing kisses to dad saying “I’m ready to go”. When we got there, he walked over to a friend and didn’t give me a second look. When I came to pick him up, he was throwing a football and started crying when I picked him up, he didn’t want to leave. The best thing I could ask for!!

Today, a couple of tears when we left the house because he didn’t want to leave dad, but when we got to school, off he went on the playground. He didn’t even give me time to zip his sweater.

Ethan looked a bit silly today because he’s all of a sudden very particular about what he puts on and what he wants. Last night he took some crocs out of his drawer, and wanted Jarrod to put them on him. They were inseparable after that. I tried taking them off when he went to bed and he started throwing a tantrum. So he slept in the crocs.

This morning Jarrod tried taking them off to change him, another tantrum… So, he wore the crocs to school (which are too large for him) and that we bought for the beach/pool.

Ethan also has 3 favorite shirts; one with a football, Thomas the train and a car. He loves them! If he spots them, he will grab them and insist that I help him put them on.

I can ask Ethan to get a book for me to read with him. He runs to his room and brings one back. I then tell him to put it back before grabbing another one, and he will.

Ethan’s working on 3 new teeth. Before we know it, he’ll have a full set.

As we speak, he’s in his crib singing. 19 months is a great stage, he’s so much fun!

Well, it’s been a few weeks since my last post, mostly because it has been crazy busy in our house! 2 weddings, family in town etc.

Ethan is adjusting well to his new Montessori school. It’s been almost a month already, which is hard to believe. Summer school ends the end of next week, and the new school year starts on September 7th. A couple days after the new school year, the school is hosting an ice cream social. We’re looking forward to that, to meet with the teachers, families and kids that will be in Ethan’s class. There will be 12 kids in his class and 2 teachers.

Each week there’s a new development. Ethan has mastered drinking out of a regular cup, though we still give him a sippy cup at home if he’s walking around with it. Binky’s are done with!! Which has been great, and Ethan’s biggest accomplishment to date is escaping his crib!

We put Ethan down for a nap about a week and a half ago, and the next thing you know he came strolling into the kitchen… We were so confused and blamed Granny (who was staying with us for the week) for taking him out of the crib. Well turned out it wasn’t her, and after many escapes to follow, we realized this was here to stay. Jarrod will be installing his toddler bed this weekend which will be a bit safer for him when he does get out of the bed.

Each week in Ethan’s summer school program there is an emphasis on a new sport. So far Ethan has learned soccer and basketball. He surprised us with some pretty impressive soccer moves out of the blue the weekend before last. I didn’t realize how much an 18 month old could pick up when it came to the coordination of kicking a ball. He seriously looked like a little pro. He kept kicking the ball into the wall as if it was his goal.

When I picked Ethan up from school today his teacher told me that he is finally learning how to pick up after himself and put away the toys he is playing with. Hallelujah!!! I could not be more excited and will be reinforcing this at home. Prior to today she said he made a little trail of destruction everywhere he went which is exactly what we were dealing with at home.

Ethan’s language is really expanding too. Too many words to list but here are a few new ones:

lunch box

backpack

graham cracker

airplane

cookie (cookie monster)

all the Sesame characters, Abby, Elmo, Bert & Ernie

Well, that’s all for now, hope you all enjoy the rest of your week!

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The first week of school was not easy but each day became a little easier on Ethan… Not the initial drop-off, but the rest of the day. The school was nice enough to call me the first 2 days to let me know how things were going. By Friday it had set in with him that this is where he’d be every week. As we pulled into the parking lot, he got a pouty lip, like I know what’s going on here… Previously the emotions and crying had only started when he went from me to the teacher.

The school sent out an email about separation anxiety, and that it’s completely normal and that they expect it. They also sent some tips on dealing with it. Having good bye routines, giving them a reassuring smile as you’re leaving, showing them that you are confident of the care that he’s in.

They are teaching him to drink out of a normal cup right now rather than a sippy cup. They’ve had to change his shirt a couple of times as he still spills all over himself. The school is a binky free zone, so as of today the binky is officially out of commission in our house.

I got into a rhythm with making his lunches. It’s my new nightly routine. I give him 1 meat, 1 veggie, 1 fruit, crackers and cheese. He seems to like it as there is no food or little food left in his lunch box when it comes home.

I know it sounds crazy, but I can already sense a change in him. He is so active while he’s there, and doing fun activities that he comes home just zonked! It makes him a lot more manageable in the evenings, well as manageable as a very busy 18 month old can be.

When I picked him up on Thursday, he gave me an anatomy lesson. He pointed to my eyes, ears, lips and nose and told me what all of them were.

Ethan’s been really into letters lately. He makes the correct sound for quite a few of them. There was a happy birthday sign in the window of a store by our house and he went up to it and said “ha” for the H. I thought that was pretty impressive. Each day he says a couple of new words. I really need to sit down and make a list of all the ones that he knows.

We went to sushi for dinner tonight and he LOVED the ginger, and was saying ginger by the time that we left. He also insisted on his own set of chopsticks, which we gave him and he tried to use them (mostly unsuccessfully) for the whole meal.

I got Ethan’s first full hair cut this week. It’s a little short, but I’m sure it will grow back soon. He was such a good guy! He sat in my lap and had the most serious face on him the whole time. I was very proud of him.

Well, it definitely wasn’t a perfect day, but it could have been worse. Ethan cried when I left and I got an update around 11:00 that he had been crying off and on all morning. He refused his snack at snack time. I felt so guilty all day long. It was an emotionally draining day for me.

I didn’t feel this way when I left him at daycare for the first time. Maybe it was because he was younger and not so aware that he wasn’t with mom and dad, no crying happened then. I’m sure he felt like he was just abandoned with a bunch of strangers.

There are 3 teachers in his class and, apparently he would get upset when the one that he had been with most, left to use the restroom etc. He seemed to be doing quite well when I picked him up at 5:00 however and he was playing with some dinosaurs (which he loves)!